Catch Me
by LoveLoveLovix
Summary: Nanami is just another member of the fashion club- or is she? Maybe she's really a magical girl with a secret wish. Maybe she really fights witches when she's not watching her little sister. Maybe she has a lot to learn from two familiar faces who believe they can save her.


**Catch Me  
**A Heartcatch and Puella Magi Crossover

With a cry, Nanami dropped to her knees. She looked down at the floor of Drusilla's labyrinth, trying to think of what to do next. In the corner of her eye, she saw her soft brown soul gem- not so soft, though, now that her magic was wearing out. She was nowhere close to running out of power, but she could already tell that the witch was too strong for one Puella Magi to take out on her own.

She sighed, stood up, and pulled a pistol from her ponytail. Aiming carefully, she pulled the trigger, releasing a spray of holy water. Or at least, that's what she assumed it was. The weapon had an acidic effect on the witches, but didn't hurt Nanami in the slightest. It was an interesting weapon, a water gun. As a magical weapon, the range was farther than most guns and definitely dealt more damage. She never had to refill it either- she could just pull a new one out of nowhere. It still felt silly, though, fighting with a brightly colored pistol.

Sometimes Nanami wondered why she contracted with Kyuubey in the first place. For Rumi, she supposed, but really for herself. All she wanted was to have the ability to care for Rumi without sacrificing her own happiness. Her wish had given Rumi brilliance. The kindergartner now went to a fancy Reggio Emilia private school with a longer school day, completely paid for by a generous scholarship. Classes ended at five for Rumi and two for Nanami- she had three whole hours to herself. Generally, she spent one at the fashion club and two fighting witches, as her part of the contract demanded. It was a busy life, but not nearly as hard on her.

The water trickled slowly from the gun, and she through the empty plastic container against the witch. If she was going to discard the weapon, may as well inflict some damage, right? She pulled out another two guns, one with each hand, and began to squirt. Drusilla reached out at her with a spiralling tentacle, but it was easy enough for Nanami to dodge. The issue with the witch wasn't that she was hard to fight- it was that the acidic weapon didn't seem to be doing much damage at all.

"I guess it's time to pull out the big guns!" Nanami said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She dropped her two small pistols and waved her hands into a giant heart shape, out of which a super soaker appeared. In one fluid motion, she grabbed it, pumped it. "Purezza d'onda!" she shouted, just like her old mentor Mami suggested.

Drusilla roared. The finishing blow- well, not exactly finishing in this case- had definitely hurt, but not enough. Nanami cursed. She wished Mami would have stayed, but the veteran Puella Magi had been summoned back to her hometown of Mitakihara by Kyuubey. "Think, Nanami, think," Nanami muttered. "What would Mami-sempai do?"

More than likely, this would be the point in the battle where she would pull out her snake-like ribbons. All Nanami had was her flower necklace, which could turn into a somewhat effective rentsuru if needed. With a yank, she ripped it from her neck and watched it grow until the red rose at the end became a spiky ball. She whipped it around, only somewhat carefully, and ran at Drusilla. When she was close enough, she brought the rose down on the witch's head. It seemed to stun the witch, and in that moment, Nanami threw the rose around her own neck and drew out another soaker, using it to inflict more damage.

It seemed to be working until Drusilla extended all ten tendrils towards Nanami. Dodging that many was a challenge, and a couple hit her in the stomach, then in the shoulder. She chanced a glance at her soul gem and saw that it was beginning to reflect the strain of the battle. Coming in, she had been confident that she would have a shiny new grief seed when all was said and done, but it was now apparent that Nanami and Drusilla were evenly matched. Maybe if her gem had been purer, she could win, but now the battle seemed to be a risk that was up to luck to decide.

Nanami pursed her lips. Maybe she would go down, but she would go down fighting like a real Puella Magi.

From out of nowhere, something hit the witch.

Nanami looked up and saw another magical girl flying down on the witch, no weapons to be seen. "What in hell..." she muttered. The confusion and surprise was multiplied with the appearance of another girl. They both seemed to almost be fighting the witch by hand... and foot... and was that a butt punch? There was no sword or gun or spear in sight. And the crazy thing was that the girls were winning. They were beating the witch.

Just as Nanami thought they were about to win, they two girls stepped down. They had matching outfits, a rarity for Puellae Magi, but their appearances were still different. One was pink as could be, with hair in a high ponytail and a friendly smile on her face as she looked at Nanami. The other had long, wavy hair that hung down in blue ripples, like the waves of an ocean. She was shorter than the pink girl, and didn't look quite as friendly, although the expression on her face was almost laughable. "Don't worry, Nanami-chan. We're here to save you!" she said.

Nanami furrowed her brow. "You... you know me?"

"Of course!" said the girl with the blue hair. The other magical girl seemed to shush her, but she continued. "It's okay if we tell Nanami-chan. She's a Precure too!"

"A Precure?" Was that another name for Puella Magi?

"She's not a Precure-desu!" said a small floating... thing... that looked vaguely like Kyuubey. "She's a Puella Magi!"

"Mmm?" the pink girl hummed inquisitively. "What's that?"

Another floating Kyuubey-thing popped up from behind. "Puellae Magi are artificially created Precure! Back long ago, fairies from another world came to the Heart Tree-desu! They wanted to use our power to help save the universe, but that would have meant the death of all Precure! When we said no, they used science and magic to create their own-desu!"

"But it's at great risk-desu!" said the first Kyuubey-thing. "Their Heart Flowers wilt and become Desertrians without the help of the Desert Apostles, unless the Puella Magi dies first-desu!"

The two magical girls looked at Nanami in horror. They were silent for a second before Drusilla's tentacles extended towards the group once again, albeit weakly. The pair jumped up, and Nanami followed suit, although she couldn't go as high. When they touched the ground, the two mysterious girls cried out. "Gather, power of flowers!"

"Blossom Tact!" the pink cried, and a wand-like device appeared.

The blue girl echoed. "Marine Tact!"

"Gather up, the power of both flowers!" they said in unison. "Pretty Cure! Floral Power Fortissimo!" They jumped directly into the witch, and Nanami sucked in a breath. Somehow, though, the two came out on the other side, and Drusilla exploded. "Heartcatch!" the girls yelled.

As the barrier faded, the girls walked over to Nanami, grief seed in hand. "This is all that was left behind," said the blue girl. "It's tiny."

The first Kyuubey-thing took it. "This isn't a Heart Seed, it's a grief seed. Nanami-san can use it." And the thing dropped it right into her hands.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Nanami cried out. She let her civilian form fall back into place and held her Soul Gem against the grief seed, letting the small object replenish her magic.

When she looked up, she saw that the two mysterious girls had also become civilians again- and they were people she knew. "Tsubomi-chan? Erika-chan?"

"That's right," Erika said. "We're secretly Precure, legendary warriors. Just like you... kinda," she added sheepishly. "Don't worry, Nanami, we're here to help you!"

Tsubomi smiled. "These are Chypre and Coffret," she said, pointing to each Kyuubey-thing in turn. "They're our friends, and the fairy guardians of the Heart Tree."

"Nice to meet you-desu!" the two fairies said, and Nanami bowed respectfully.

Erika grabbed Nanami, pulling her into a hug. "We'll figure out a way to keep you from becoming a Desertrian, Nanami-chan. After all, that's what Precure do! Save people!"

"That sounds nice," Nanami said, though she didn't quite believe she needed to be saved. While she knew that running out of magic was a Very Bad Thing, would she really turn into a what's-it-called? Or die? That, she doubted.

She'd ask Kyuubey when he got back from Mitakihara. He'd be honest with her. Kyuubey never lied. He was too good for that.

* * *

Author's Note: Not quite sure if I want to leave this a one-shot or write more. It could do for either, I think. Please give me your thoughts!


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